The ultimate guide to summer camps

There’s heaps on offer this holiday to keep the kids on their toes — and from under your feet. Check out our ultimate guide to Hong Kong’s best summer camps!

The great outdoors

Treasure Island

Surf’s up on Lantau this summer, with week-long camps for grommets (five-nine years) and intermediates (nine-12 years), including an overnight camp on the beach for the older age group. Meet at Central Ferry Pier 6 at 8am, returning at 4.40pm. treasureislandhk.com

Hebe Haven Yacht Club

Go wild with the club’s week-long Adventure Watersports programme. Try your hand at sailing and kayaking, plus beach games, mini-olympics and oodles of fun on the sea biscuit. The programme is aimed at seven-14 year olds and runs from June 27 to August 19. Further Optimist and Hong Kong Sailing Federation courses are also available. hhyc.org.hk

Blue Sky Sports Club

The Sai Kung-based watersports experts will be running five-day Wet ‘n’ Wild camps from June through to August for eight-16 year olds. Expect swimming, stand-up paddle boarding, kayaking, wakeboarding, surfing and dragon boating. If you want to hone particular skills further, there are also five-day SUP and kayak adventure camps. bluesky-sc.com

Ark Eden

One-day wild and woolly eco camps on Lantau designed for kids to reconnect with nature. Experiences include Walking With Waterfalls,Bushcraft & Survival and A Day on the Farm. Suitable for five-11 year olds. Drop-off and pickup from Central Ferry Pier 6 or Mui Wo Ferry Pier. arkedenonlantau.com

Surf Hong Kong

Beginners and intermediate surfers of eight years and older can ride the waves at Sai Kung’s Tai Long Wan beach. The camp focuses on surfing, stand up paddle boarding, kayaking and canoeing. Pick up and drop off at Sai Kung and Central Piers. Three-day surfing camps starts from $3,200. www.ateamedventures.com

Fitkidz Biathlon Summer Camp

Suitable for children aged nine years and older, students can improve their fitness level, running technique and build their confidence in the swimming pool and open water. The camp runs throughout July and August in Clearwater Bay and Tseung Kwan O. waz.warner@gmail.com

Sport

ESF Sports

From multi-sport, to football, to specialist swimming, gymnastics and tennis clinics, ESF summer camps will have them bouncing up and down throughout July and August. Half-day and full-day options are available from two years and up. Camp locations include AISHK in Kowloon Tong; Discovery College on Lantau; Kowloon Junior School in Kowloon; Renaissance College in Ma On Shan; South Island School in Aberdeen; and HK Academy in Sai Kung. esf.org.hk

Hong Kong Basketball Academy

Shoot some hoops and with the HKBA summer camp which aims to improve a player’s all-round basketball skills including dribbling, passing, shooting and rebounding. Camps run from June 20 to August 13 at locations in Stanley, Wong Chuk Hang and Sai Ying Pun. hkbaallday.com

Sport4Kids

Get stuck in with camps covering gymnastics, arts and crafts, football, rugby and basketball. There will also be loads of competitions and camp games. Open to all high-energy kids aged 18 months through to 15 years. www.sport4kids.hk

Brazilian Football Academy practice

Asia Pacific Soccer School

Jumpers for goalposts? Not likely with this professional outfit. This year the School will be running two-and-a-half hour sessions for players aged five years and up in a variety of venues, including Stanley Ho, King’s Park, Kowloon Cricket Club and HK Academy Sai Kung. Each week is themed – Euro Superstars, Street Soccer and Summer Fun to name but a few. They will also be running Kinder Kicks classes for under fives. kinderkicks.hk (five years and under); apsoccer.hk (five years and up).

Hong Kong Academy

The Sai Kung-based school will be hosting gymnastics classes (ages three-12 years) and volleyball camps (ages eight-15 years). Each class focuses on essential techniques for competent and confident play. hkacademy.edu.hk

Hong Kong International Tennis Academy

Serving up aces all summer long, HKITA will hold mini and junior tennis camps for three to 12 year olds. Locations include Po Tsui Park in Sai Kung as well as courts in Kowloon and Hong Kong Island over July and August. hkita.com

Brazilian Football Academy

Future football stars can hone their skills and add a touch of Brazilian flair to their game with the Brazilian Football Academy. Running six days a week from July 2 until August 20 at Stanley Ho Sports Centre in Pok Fu Lam, training sessions include skills and flicks, magic passing and Brazilian samba games. Saturday will be tournament day full of friendly football matches. bfa.hk

Tinytots

Soccer Summer soccer programmes for one to four year olds at the Stanley Ho Sports Centre in Pok Fu Lam. Little ones can learn some skills of the beautiful game in a safe and structured but above all fun way.Classes start from July 2 and run until the end of August. tinytots.com.hk

Creative

Anastassia’s Art House

The Sai Kung branch will be teaching children to create animals and landmarks from around the world. Classes are separated into age groups, three to five years old and each week is thematically based on each country. Classes start from $270 per day and runs from June 27 till August 13. arthouse-hk.com

Bricks4Kidz

Learn, build and play with Lego. Favourite camp themes include Galaxy Far Away, Jurassic Brick Land, Minecraft, Ninjas and Superheroes. A special Brick Olympics will also be held to coincide with this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio. Older children can work with computers to produce stop motion animations, program and design their own robots. Those signed up for a full-week camp will get to make their own Lego minifigure to take home at the end of the week. bricks4kidz.com

Hong Kong Art Tutoring

Summer courses in drawing, painting, printmaking and sculpture run by Gail Deayton who has nearly 20 years experience of teaching in international schools. Courses run from June 13 until August 19 at the North Point studio. All materials are included with a maximum number of 10 students per class. hkarttutoring.com

Performing arts

Faust International

Hong Kong’s theatre and performing arts specialists will be hosting Creative Writing (ages six to 13) and Summer Theatre camps (ages three to 14) throughout July and August. The weeklong workshops will see kids develop their written language skills while the drama workshops focus on a different theme each week to encourage confident performance skills. faustworld.com.hk

Actress-in-training at Faust

Stage Right Youth Theatre

Week-long drama camps will let children work on creating an original drama performance. Family and friends are welcome to view the show on the final day of the camp. The camps run at locations in Sai Kung and Hang Hau throughout July and until August 12. stagerighthk.com

Rumple & Friends

The Big Top Academy Summer Camp promises to be the biggest yet in its brand new Sheung Wan venue. Every week kids embrace drama, puppetry, circus and musical theatre to explore a different weekly theme. Themes such as space, magic and circus, mythical beasts and superheroes should fire little imaginations, guided by professional performers. The week-long courses run from June 27 until August 26 for ages three and up. rumpleandfriends.com

Junior Snappers

The five day summer camp will see young filmmakers create a short film from story concept to shooting and editing. Two separate sessions will run for students aged eight to 12 years and 13 to 16 years in the morning and afternoon respectively. Camps are held at their Sheung Wan studio. juniorsnappers.com

IAFT

IAFT is running both filmmaking and acting workshops for children who love to be in front of the camera or enjoy making it happen from behind the scenes. All students will work collaboratively to make a short film from original scripts. admissions@iaft.hk

Bome Dance

Bome Dance is run by a team of professional British dancers which promotes small group classes for its little dancers. This summer children over six can learn Latin and Ballroom dancing at the Lockhart Road studio. bomedance@gmail.com

Adorable ballerinas at Twinkle Dance

Academic

Jumpstart Mandarin

Improve their Mandarin in fun classes – cooking, role play, arts and crafts, song and dance and more. Two, three-hour sessions per day from July 4 to August 12. Classes are held in the centre’s two New Territories locations – Hang Hau and Sai Kung. jumpstartmandarin.com

Tutor Time

This multi-location education centre has fun, hands-on workshops exploring science, technology, engineering and maths. Aimed at kids aged two to six years, the imaginative camps include Ramps & Pathways, Grow it! Eat it! Cook it!, and Technology Transformers. Camps are open July 25 to August 19. tutortime.com.hk

HK Kidz

Little linguists will love these fun, activitypacked camps. Learn English, French, German, Spanish or Mandarin through song, storytelling, drama and role-play. The Culture Enrichment Programme includes specialist courses in arts, drama, cooking and science & discovery taught in all of the afore-mentioned languages. Aimed at kids aged one-and-a-half to 12 years and held at campuses in Central, Wong Chuk Hang and Sai Kung, the company is offering a 10% on enrolments before June 15. hkkidz.com

ESF Language & Learning

Morning language and learning camps from a wide range of activities including drama, science, writing and coding courses. Children can keep up their language skills too with English, Spanish and Mandarin lessons. Programmes are flexible and can be booked on a weekly basis over the whole summer holidays. Stay the whole day and take part in multi-sports and art camps in the afternoon. esf.org.hk

GAIA Language

Camps at three different levels will help kids to boost foreign language skills. The Spanish/English Bilingual camp (ages three- to six years) uses songs and stories to help with fluency in a fun and interactive way. Courses for older children look to boost fluency in a natural language acquisition setting and include courses in English, Spanish, Chinese and German. Test taking skills for older children with exam preparation also available. Camps run from July 4-22 and August 1-19 with two or three day per week options. gaialanguage.com

Kaplan

Improving essay writing skills and developing critical thinking and debating are some of the key areas covered during Kaplan’s summer programmes. Six classes run for three hours per day over two weeks. Suitable for children from 12 years old. hkenglish@kaplan.com

Littlies

Lighthouse Playroom

Lighthouse Playroom’s classes are available in English and Mandarin for children aged two to six years old. Super Tot Preparatory Class are designed for younger children preparing to start kindergarten and older children can brush up on their academic learning in the Bilingual Summer Camps programmes. www.lighthouseplayroom.com

SKIP

Littlies are kept busy at Summer Paint & Play playgroups with outdoor and indoor play, arts and crafts and various sensory activities. Sessions run during July and August and are suitable for children aged one to five years old and need to be accompanied by an adult. skip.edu.hk

PEKiP

Even the teeniest tiniest tots are catered for at PEKiP (the Prague Parent-Infant Program). Aiming to encourage development, each group session includes baby massage, games and sensory integration for babies aged six months to walking. Simple exercises prompt muscle development to encourage crawling and exploration. The classes are led by therapists specially qualified in infant massage and rhythmic movement. The PEKiP studio is located in Aberdeen and boasts heaps of specialist equipment and games. pekip.com.hk

Garden House Kindergarten

The Clearwater Bay Waldorf Pre-school invites littlies aged from two to seven years to play and learn. The fun includes weekly themes and loads of playbased learning through painting, singing, waterplay, puppetry, baking and craft. Healthy snacks prepared with help from the children are also included. July 11 to August 26. gardenhouse.edu.hk

Woodland Pre-schools

Woodland Pre-schools across Hong Kong are inviting youngsters to get active this summer with Motion Sports & Games Programme and Summer Soccer Camp. The Summer Phonics Camp will use songs and games to help with language acquisition. Courses run from July 4 to August 12. Puppetry, magic and superheroes at Rumple & woodlandschools.com